A Girl on the Team?
by la lune du sang
Summary: What's going to happen when a girl joins the Nishiura baseball team?  Lot's of stuff, that's what!  Featuring the entire Nishiura team with Mizutani and Taijima as love interests.  T for saftey, please R&R and enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Kyoko Yamakawa followed the map she'd been given and easily found the baseball field. _Shit,_ she thought to herself, _the team's already practicing_. She hurried the rest of the way to the field and entered the dugout, where a man was sitting with a dog in his lap.

"Excuse me," she addressed him, "but I'm here to play on the intermural baseball team. I assume you're the faculty sponser, Mr. Shiga, right?"

"Yes," Shiga looked up at her, "I am. I take it that means you're Kyoko, the new shortstop. Welcome to the team. You can go ahead and get out on the field, if you're ready."

With that, Kyoko trotted out onto the field, glove in hand. Several of the boys turned and gave her odd looks as she slowed to a walk. As she approached the only other female in sight, Momoe called for the boys to huddle up.

"Alright boys," she announced, "we've got a new player joining the team today. Go ahead," she pushed Kyoko to the middle of the group, "introduce yourself."

"Fine." Kyoko turned from Momoe to the stares of the boys. "My name is Kyoko Yamakawa, but you can call me Kyo once I get to know you. I used to play softball back in junior high because they wouldn't let me play hardball, but trust me, I can play better than a lot of boys I've already met."

"Alright then," Momoe said, "we'll cut practice short today. Instead I want all of you to try to get to know Kyoko here. If you want to practice a bit more so she can show you what she's got, that's up to you."

With that, Momoe strode off the field, leaving Kyoko surrounded by the gawking boys. The entire group stood for a moment in silence before Tajima broke the silence.

"Hey there Kyo," he said as he threw his arm around the girl, "I'm-"

"Tajima." She finished his sentence for him and ducked out from under his arm. "You've got an excellent swing, but your small build doesn't allow you to hit anything over the fence." She pointed to Abe. "And you're Abe, right? The ace catcher that can read anyone like a book?"

"Yeah, that's me." Abe shook the girl's hand as Hanai began to mutter under his breath.

"Great, _another_ girl."

"And you must be Hanai." She pushed Abe aside to get right in Hanai's face. "The hard-hitting clean-up who's also a egotistical, stuck-up sexist."

Tajima was trying hard (and failing) to stifle a laugh as Kyoko smirked into Hanai's glaring face. After a moment, she turned and pointed straight at Mihashi.

"I'm most interested," she told him as she walked over and shook Mihashi's hand, "in you, Ren Mihashi. I've heard stories about your pitching, Mihashi. I can honestly say I'm excited to see you in action. C'mon," she gestured to him, "show me your stuff."

"Hold it," Abe shouted at her, "just a sec. I've heard some things about you, too. Kyoko Yamakawa, the softball hitter who's a good all-around player, but never gets struck out. I want to know...is it true your brain works like a computer?"

Most of the boys gasped and took a second look at the girl as she turned back to face Abe.

"No," she said with a shrug, "not really. It works more like a calculator. Ever since the first time I stepped up to bat, I've been able to tell roughly where the ball will land in my strike zone based on trajectory, arc, and the pitcher's finger positioning on the ball. Here, I'll show you." She walked over to the dugout, grabbed a helmet and bat, and stood over the plate. "Mihashi, pitch me some balls and I'll tell you where they'll land."

Mihashi glanced at Abe and the boy nodded. They took up their positions and Kyoko assumed her batting stance. She watched Mihashi as he nodded at Abe, wound up, and released the ball. She paid careful attention to his pitching hand as the ball left it. _Alright_, she thought, _his fingers were in slider position...and the ball's a bit higher than normal. Based on the path a slider takes..._"

"Slider, high and outside." She watched the ball fly past and land in Abe's glove.

"Nice," he told her, "but one time's not going to convince anyone."

"Well then," she smirked, "go ahead and throw the ball back to Mihashi."

Abe tossed the ball back, and Mihashi threw another pitch. _That's a curveball...and he threw it __toward the inside and middle level of the strike zone, so..."_

"Curve, low and right over the plate."

Abe gave a soft whistle as he tossed Mihashi the ball.

"Fastball, high and inside."

"Curve, mid-level and outside."

"Fastball, dead center." _Wait a sec_, she thought with an audible gasp, _that last fastball...something was odd about it. Hm..._

After a few more correct predictions, most of the boys had surrounded the girl and were praising her. That's when Hanai spoke up.

"So what," he said indignantly, "knowing where the ball's going is a lot different than actually hitting it."

"Fine," she replied as she jammed the helmet back onto her head, "throw another one, Mihashi."

The timid boy took the mound as Abe squatted behind the plate. After a few moments, Mihashi let the ball go and Kyoko's mind went quickly to work. _Fastball, thrown low...the angle's leaning to the outside, but it looks like it'll land on the line._ **(AN: She's referring to her imaginary strike zone)**__As the ball approached the plate, Kyoko swung and the sweet sound of the metal bat contacting the ball reached her ears. The ball flew through the air and landed just inside the outfield grass. She ignored the cheering of the boys, mostly Tajima, and looked straight at Mihashi.

"Hey," she called to him, "show me that dead center fastball again."

After Mihashi stuttered out a reply, he threw the pitch. _It looks like it's a normal fastball, but something happened last time_? As she began to swing, the ball seemed to hover in her vision. Kyoko let out a small gasp and paused for just a fraction of a second in her swing, barely making contact with the ball. The white sphere bounced down the third baseline and rolled to a stop outside the line. _ Well well_, she thought, _looks like Mihashi's going to make a pretty good ace. Not only is his accuracy amazing, but that fastball...it's like nothing I've ever seen before_.

"Good job Mihashi." Kyoko flashed him a smile, causing him to blush before she turned to Hanai. "So, did I impress you, Hanai?"

"Hmph...I guess."

She smirked and walked past him toward the dugout as the boys began to disperse. Kyoko waited until most of them had left, purposefully stalling until Mihashi was leaving.

"Hey," she called to him as he left, "tell me something. What's up with you, Mihashi?"

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"I mean why are you so timid? With your skills, anyone else would be bragging all day, but you look like you don't even want to be up on the mound. What's wrong?"

"N-No," Mihashi replied, "it's nothing like that. I _do_ want to be on the mound but..."

Kyoko listened to Mihashi recount the tale of his junior high pitching days. As he finished and tears started to show on the corners of his eyes, Kyoko placed her arm around his shoulders and headed back in the direction of the school, forcing Mihashi to walk with her.

"Well," she said after a moment, "are you going to answer my question or not?"

"H-huh?"

"Listen Mihashi," she said as she stopped him and stood in front of him, "while what you went through in junior high was pretty bad, you shouldn't feel so guilty about it all. Let me explain something to you." She held up her index and middle fingers. "While they may be two different positions on the field," she said as she moved her fingers together, "the pitcher and catcher act as a single unit. Part of the catcher's job is to analyze each batter's strengths and weaknesses and advise the pitcher how to best exploit those weaknesses and avoid those strengths. There's only so much a pitcher can tell about the batter from the mound, and because your catcher abandoned you, you weren't able to get that vital information and all you could do is guess about what to throw. See, Mihashi? It was the catcher's fault your team lost, not yours. Don't let anyone tell you differently, okay?

"O-okay. Thanks Kyo."

Kyo nodded and smiled at Mihashi, who was still tearing up. She turned and bid him farewell as she walked off the school grounds and back towards her house. _Those assholes over at Mihoshi Academy tortured poor Mihashi his entire junior high baseball season. It's their fault he's so underconfident. Maybe, with time, I can get the boys to help me raise his own opinion of himself so he can realize that he really is a good pitcher..._


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a few weeks since Kyoko had joined the Nishiura baseball team. Since then, she had become good friends with the boys, especially Tajima, Mizutani, Abe, and Mihashi. She had even gotten Hanai to apologize _and _accept her as a member of the team. It was almost time for training camp, and she had begun to feel like 'just one of the boys.'

Kyoko tossed her bag into the back of the bus and walked around to the door, where the rest of the team was gathered. They filtered into the bus, Kyoko taking the seat across the aisle from Tajima and Mizutani, who had become two of her best friends on the team. She leaned back in her seat and pulled her headphones over her ears. As the bus started to roll away from the school, she let herself sink into the music. She felt a tap on her shoulder and glanced over to Mizutani. She gave the boy an inquisitive look as she uncovered her ears.

"Hey Kyo," he said as he pointed at her headphones, "I'm curious; what do you listen to?"

"Mostly rock," she said as she handed him the headphones, "but I listen to a lot of different stuff."

Mizutani replaced his own headphones with Kyoko's and listened. After a moment, he closed his eyes and started bobbing his head in time to the music. After the song ended, he handed her headphones back over.

"Awesome," he told her, "we listen to the same kind of stuff."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He gave her a sly grin. "You'd better watch it; I might steal your iPod if mine runs out of juice."

"Just try it," she smiled at him, "and you'll be sorry."

As Kyoko slid her headphones back onto her head, she heard Tajima freaking out over not "draining the monster" before he left. Chiyo turned and asked him if anything was the matter, but any reply he might have given was silenced as Mizutani and Izumi shoved him over and tried to shut him up, one of the two making a "there are girls here" remark. Kyoko giggled at Tajima's antics, and Chiyo's naivety as Abe walked past her seat. Kyoko turned and glanced out the window and let herself fall asleep.

She was awakened by a loud "Hey Kyo, we're here!" shouted into her ear by who else but Tajima. As she opened her eyes, she grabbed the boy by the front of the shirt.

"Yuuichiro," she said slowly, using the boy's first name for emphasis, "if you EVER wake me up like that again, I _will_ kill you."

Tajima just gave a chuckle and a wide smile in reply and disembarked the bus. Kyoko followed and walked up next to Mizutani and the other boys, who were staring up at a near-dilapidated old cottage that was to be their home until after their practice game against Mihoshi Academy.

"Well," Mizutani said to everyone as Kyoko approached, "at least it's got character."

"Yeah," she replied as she joined them in staring up at the shack, "but that's about all it's got."

Their gawking was cut short by Momoe, who told them to go inside and change. Not wanting to incur her wrath, the players hurried inside. The boys started to strip in the middle of one of the rooms as Kyoko proceeded to the bathroom. She was comfortable enough around the boys, but she wasn't going to start stripping in front of them; they _were_ teenage boys after all, and after Tajima's 'drain the monster' performance on the bus, there was no way she was going to let them get horny at her expense. She quickly put on the black shirt and blue track pants that the entire team wore and left the bathroom. She joined the group of players that had formed around Mr. Shiga and they were soon at work cleaning the cottage from top to bottom. As soon as that was finished, the team was filed out of the cottage and Mr. Shiga led them in the direction of the woods, where they would be gathering herbs for their dinner. As they left, Kyoko turned and spotted Mihashi and Abe being led off by Momoe. _I wonder where their going_? She dismissed the thought from her mind and turned back to listen to Mr. Shiga explain which herbs they needed to pick.

Later that day, Kyoko was helping the team prepare dinner. She'd worked with her mother in her own kitchen before, so the cooking and dinner preparations weren't anything new to her. She was sitting at a small table with a knife in her hand, helping Momoe and Chiyo cut vegetables and the herbs that she and the rest of the team had help pick earlier that day. She stood and dumped a handful of vegetables and herbs into a stew pot as she lent Mr. Shiga an ear. Once she emptied her hands, she turned and listened to the man launch into a mini-science lesson about chemicals in their bodies that help them focus.

"Wait a second," she said after she heard the word 'thyrotropin,' "I don't understand."

Several of the other boys gave similar comments as Shiga rambled on. By the time he reached the end of the lecture, she and the boys began to understand.

"I think I get it now," she said, "so by doing this, we'll be able to focus easier?"

"Yeah, that's right!"

Shiga pointed at her and several other boys that helped to summarize his point. Kyoko laughed inwardly as he began to get excited about the whole thing.

It didn't take them long to finish dinner and get it set out on the table. Kyoko had taken her place next to Hanai and the two had been locked in another debate about why girls were just as good at sports as guys when Shiga spoke up, drowning out the entire team's conversations.

"Alright. Everyone look at your food."

Kyoko did as the man instructed and stared down at the food sitting on the table in front of her. After the work she had done that day, the steaming plates made her long to reach out and take them. She was so focused, she hardly noticed Mizutani mumble that the food looked great. She was shaken out of it by Shiga shouting "It looks great," which several members of the team repeated. He repeated himself even louder.

"It looks great!" Kyoko joined the entire rest of the team in shouting the words shortly before Momoe gave thanks for the food. Almost as soon as she had finished, Kyoko and the boys began scooping food toward themselves and tearing through the meal. Despite her femininity, she was eating as much as and as fast as any of the boys. At one point Mizutani and Hanai had slowed in their chewing and gave her quizzical looks. She swallowed and stared back at them.

"What?" She pointed her chopsticks, compete with a clump of rice, at Hanai. "I worked just as hard as you did today. Don't give me those looks."

Mizutani chuckled in reply as Hanai snatched the rice from the end of her chopsticks. She gave him an annoyed look and swiftly poked him in the forehead with the utensils before turning back to her own meal. As the team finished the last bits of food. They all leaned back and announced that it was the best meal they had ever had. She and Hanai wasted no time jumping back into their never-ending debate about boys, girls, and who was better in sports as everyone began to relax after a great meal.

That night, she retrieved her bags and headed over to the boys' room. She bumped into Mr. Shiga outside.

"Oh hello Kyo," he said as he prepared to enter the room where the boys would be sleeping, "you should really get to bed soon, rest is important, you know."

"I know," she told him, "and that's actually where I was going." She pointed towards the boys' room. "I realize it's probably a better idea for me to sleep in the other room with Chiyo and Coach Momoe, but I figured that I could sleep in here with you and the team in the interest of 'team bonding' and all that."

"Hm." Shiga thoughtfully regarded her for a moment. "You know, that sounds like a good idea. Let's go, then. It's just about time for bed."

Kyoko followed him into the room as the man made a spectacle of proclaiming lights out and laying on his futon. That was when Sakaeguchi brought up the fact that the room was too small for all of their futons. Shiga proceeded to suggest that the team members share beds with each other, a suggestion that made even Kyoko blush. Luckily for her, none of the boys had connected the fact that she had just brought her bag into the room with his suggestion. Kyoko was about to stand up and protest when Hanai nailed Shiga in the face with a pillow. What made Kyoko laugh was when Shiga threw it back and knocked Hanai on his ass. Hanai retaliated and ended up hitting Oki and Izumi and that started the pillows flying back and forth. Kyoko laughed at the sight...until she caught Taijima giving her a mischievous look. She shot back a 'don't-even-think-about-it' glare shortly before Taijima threw a pillow at her. The cushion hit Kyoko's face and fell down into her hands. She wasted no time in giving Tajima a death glare and returning the favor. The pillow hit Taijima so hard that he stumbled back into the futon closet. At this point, Kyoko couldn't contain herself any longer. She jumped headlong into the fray and began slinging pillows at her teammates. _If this is what it's like being 'just one of the boys_,' she thought as she laughed and tossed a pillow in Hanai's direction, _I really don't mind it too much_.

As the ruckus died down and the team began to lay out their futons, she caught several of the boys, Taijima included, staring in her direction. _ Oh great. The one drawback to being the only girl on the team: all the boys want to sleep next to you_.

"Don't get any ideas." She snatched a futon from the closet. "I'll be sleeping here," she said as she set the futon by one of the outer walls, "and as for the 'lucky guy' that gets to sleep next to me..." She grabbed Mizutani by the front of the shirt and planted him on the floor next to her futon. "Congratulations, Mizutani, you win."

The boys that had been giving her looks blushed a bit and looked away, except for Taijima, who put a pout on his face and plopped down where he stood. Kyoko rolled her eyes; boys were so predictable. The remainder of the team finished setting up their futons as Mr. Shiga turned off the lights. Kyoko pulled the sheets up to her chest and reached into the pocket of her pants. She got a worried look on her face as she checked the other pocket and the floor around her.

"Aw damn it," she whispered as she glanced in the direction of her bag before laying back down, "this is just great."

"Hey Kyo," Mizutani poked her in the shoulder, "something wrong?"

"I left my tunes in my bag," she said as she pointed in the direction of the closet, "and I use them to help me get to sleep. It's gonna be a long night..."

"Well," the boy replied as he reached into his pocket, "I don't usually use these but..." He produced a pair of earbuds from his pocket and plugged them into his iPod. "Here," he offered her one of the earpieces, "we listen to the same kind of music, right?"

Kyoko stared at him for a moment before taking the thing and placing it in her ear. The two scooted closer together so the cord could reach, and Kyoko turned on her side, facing Mizutani.

"Thanks," she told him as she leaned over and kissed his forehead, "you're pretty sweet, y'know?"

"Oh, um...," Mizutani stuttered a bit and blushed, "...no problem. And thanks."

He decided to take a risk and reach over and take her hand in his. Kyoko gave a soft, surprised gasp at his touch, but then smiled gently and closed her eyes. Mizutani stared at her with a caring expression on his face before letting his own eyes close, and the two of them let the music carry them off into a peaceful sleep.


End file.
